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This invention relates to animal restraint devices such as collars and harnesses and more specifically to non-choking animal restraint devices.
Animals are commonly restrained by way of attaching a leash to a flat collar, choke chain, slip, limited slip, or prong type collar that encircles the animal""s neck. Animals are also restrained by way of attaching a leash to a harness that encircles the animal""s neck and body behind the front legs, or to a halter that encircles the animal""s muzzle, head and neck. More recently, animals are restrained by way of attaching a leash to a no-pull type harness that encircles the animal""s neck and puts pressure against the animal""s sensitive foreleg pits. Many of the devices that are commonly used to restrain animals consist of an array of complicated straps and buckles that have to be attached in various places including underneath the animal.
While flat collars, choke collars, harnesses and halters that are currently widely used have been the main methods of restraining animals for many years, they have not proven to be entirely satisfactory. These devices typically result in pressure on the animal""s neck, forechest, and airway and cause choking or pinching when the animal is attached to a leash. The forechest is described as the area across the front of the animal between the neck and chest. The chest is described as the underside area between the animal""s front legs. Many harnesses encircle the animal""s neck and have straps that go across the front of the animal below the neck and between the shoulders, also known as the forechest, and put pressure on the animal""s airway.
Many animals that wear harnesses with straps across the forechest have trouble breathing when they pull against a restraint leash and they experience choking and wheezing. Many times, animal owners do not realize that their animal""s neck collars or harnesses are causing injury. Animal owners do not recognize that coughing is a sign of choking when the animal is pulling against a collar or harness. Some of the harnesses claim that the pulling forces are distributed evenly across the neck and forechest area, but many animals are still unable to breathe and experience serious injury when restrained with a harness across the forechest. On occasion, animals experience serious injury when their neck collars are accidentally caught on something and their airways are restricted. The non-choking, no-pull type harnesses that are currently used as restraint devices put pressure on the animal""s foreleg pits and have not proven to be satisfactory as these devices can cause undesired pain.
Currently, many commonly used animal restraint devices incorporate a choke collar feature. Many of the restraints that incorporate choking in order to control the animal were developed without the inventors realizing that putting pressure on the animal""s airway was actually causing injury. Restraints that put pressure on the animal""s airway often result in choking and are not effective until the animal is out of breath. The animal will continue to pull against the collar or harness even though the pulling is painful in the area of the neck or forechest. The animal will not stop pulling and will endure the pain until the animal loses its breath. Continued use of collars that cause pain can result in animals that become fearful and aggressive. Choke collars that put pressure on the animal""s neck, forechest and airway, and cut off the animal""s wind or cause repeated neck injury could be considered cruel and inhumane. Animal restraint devices that cause choking and unnecessary pain should be replaced.
Restraint devices, such as harnesses, involve a complicated array of straps and have not proven to be satisfactory as they are difficult to install. Generally, hook-and-loop fasteners are not used to attach restraint devices to animals because hook-and-loop can easily separate when a pulling action is exerted against the hook-and-loop fastener. Very often, if a hook-and-loop fastener is used for restraint it is placed through the center section of a metal ring and wrapped around the opposing section of hook-and-loop; however, when a tether is attached to the ring, the constant pulling forces against the hook-and-loop eventually cause the hook-and-loop to unwrap and become unattached and the item being restrained breaks free. Many animal collars that use hook-and-loop also use multiple rings to prevent the separation that occurs when a pulling action is exerted against the hook-and-loop fastener.
Research indicates that very few attempts have been made to restrain animals by devices other than those listed above where the restraint device encircles the neck or has straps across the forechest. Even though harnesses generally encircle the animal""s body behind the front legs, they also encircle the neck or forechest. While some harnesses involve restraining the animal""s front legs, there have been no attempts to restrain animals by avoiding pressure on both the neck and forechest.
A novel form of dog harness that includes a choke collar is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,614,083 to Plantico (1927). According to this patent, when a dog pulls upon the harness against the lead strap, his wind is gradually cut off and he is forced to obey. This harness involves various complicated straps and buckles and it cuts off the animal""s wind.
A harness that consists of a body strap with a buckle that fits around the body of an animal behind its forelegs, and a collar strap that rests on the shoulders of the animal is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,906,043 to Bernstein (1933). This patent states that when strain is placed on a leash, it is applied to the animal""s shoulders through a collar strap. When the animal is restrained with this device, there are various straps and buckles that have to be placed through loops and secured underneath the animal""s chest and on the side of the animal. The termination point of the elongated loop portion of the collar strap is positioned across the animal""s forechest.
An object of the invention described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,233,397 to Bloom (1941) is to provide a dog harness definitely avoiding a choking effect on throat, undue pressure on throat muscles, cords, and nerves effecting the lungs and heart, particularly when a dog strains against a leash attached to the harness. This harness is positioned across the dog""s forechest.
A description of a harness that causes an animal to be restrained by forces exerted on the chest as opposed to windpipe choking forces is contained in U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,056 to Maietta (1977). This invention""s objective is to provide an animal restraining apparatus that applies restraining forces to an area below the frontmost portion of the neck. This leash and harness assembly consists of unitary construction. It involves placing the straps behind the forelegs underneath the animal, around the lower neck area, and inserting them through openings.
More recently, another effort is being made to restrain animals without producing a choking action. U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,369 to Sporn (1990) describes a leash attachable dog harness that includes a pair of restraint cables that impose a pressure on the highly sensitive foreleg pits in order to restrain a dog without producing a choking action. The patent goes on to indicate that the harness comprises a collar that encircles the dog""s neck along with restraint cables that are hooked to the collar. U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,627 to Bandimere (1994) talks about U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,369 to Sporn (1990) and describes that the Sporn restraint cables impose a painful pressure in the foreleg pits. The Bandimere harness comprises a collar that encircles the dog""s neck along with restraint straps around the legs. U.S. Pat. No.5,471,953 to Sporn (1995) describes a similar harness that is modified whereby no neck collar must be fitted to the neck of the dog, but rather, it incorporates a chest junction that is positioned across the dog""s forechest and a pair of restraint cables.
A non-choking strain reducing dog harness with a neck collar that has a cord that forms a pair of loops for disposition in the foreleg pits is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,426 to Krauss (1995). This patent involves a neck collar that encircles the animal""s neck and states that its principal objective is to improve upon the prior non-choking devices.
A safety releasable neck collar for animals that combines a safety collar, conventional collar, and a choke collar is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,049 to Peterson (1990). The collar encircles the neck and utilizes both a hook-and-loop fastener and rings for closure.
A description of a breakaway pet collar with hook-and-loop fastener that allows an animal wearing the collar to escape is contained in U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,538 to Gurski (1991). The object of this invention is to provide a flat neck collar that involves two fastening methods with the use of a hook-and-loop fastener and two D-rings. When fastened only with hook-and-loop fastener, the collar pulls apart to allow the animal to free itself if caught accidentally. When fastened with two D-rings, the collar encircles the neck and allows the animal to be held securely on a leash or rope.
Even though there have been several attempts to restrain animals without cutting off their wind, the main focus of those who have made an effort to restrain animals without choking has been to put pressure on the sensitive foreleg pits and cause pain. Devices that encircle the neck or forechest and put pressure on the foreleg pits to restrain an animal still put pressure on the neck, forechest and airway. This restraining method can be considered cruel and it causes undesired pain to be inflicted upon the animal for control purposes. Harnesses and flat collars that encircle the neck, lower neck, or forechest put pressure on the animal""s airway and can cause pain and injury when used for restraint. Complicated harnesses that put pressure on the animal""s neck, forechest, and cut off the animal""s wind or cause repeated neck injury can be considered inhumane and could cause the animal to become fearful and aggressive. Flat collars that put pressure on the animal""s neck and airway can cause choking and neck injury and should be replaced with non-choking restraint devices. Animal restraint devices that cause unnecessary pain should be replaced with new and improved restraint devices that do not choke or cause pain when the animal is controlled by a leash.
Animal harnesses are generally cumbersome and difficult to put-on and take-off of an animal. They involve various complicated straps and buckles and are difficult to position on the animal. Generally, animal collars and harnesses do not use hook-and-loop fasteners as a quick and easy method of closure because hook-and-loop fasteners will separate when pulled against with force. When multiple rings are used in addition to hook-and-loop fastener, there is a possibility that inadvertent failure to connect both rings would not be immediately evident and the animal could break free. While the hook-and-loop fastening method allows the collar to come apart easily, the use of multiple D-rings could result in unintentional release of the animal. If one of the rings is accidentally missed and both rings are not simultaneously attached to a leash, the animal could unexpectedly break free. Restraint devices that utilize hook-and-loop fastener along with multiple D-rings to insure restraint should be improved and simplified. It would be desirable to have easily installed harnesses and collars that have quick and uncomplicated closures that will not separate unintentionally when used for restraint.
All of the animal restraint devices heretofore known suffer from a number of disadvantages:
(a) they can cause undesired pain and injury by putting pressure on an animal""s neck, forechest, airway, or foreleg pits when the animal is pulling against a restraint leash; and
(b) they are cumbersome, time consuming, and difficult to put-on and take-off since they have an array of straps and buckles and involve hard to reach areas of the animal; and
(c) they can result in the animal accidentally breaking free if care is not taken during installation of collars with hook-and-loop fasteners and multiple rings; and
(d) they involve straps, webbing, or banding, and are limited to the types of material that can be used for manufacturing; and
(e) they can result in neck injuries that animal owners do not realize can be produced by collars or harnesses; and
(f) they can result in cost to animal owners for medical treatment due to unanticipated neck injuries; and
(g) they are often complicated and made with multiple pieces.
Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the present invention are:
(a) to provide a non-choking restraint that does not put pressure on the neck, forechest, airway, or foreleg pits of an animal when pulling against a restraint leash; and
(b) to provide a restraint that has a quick, uncomplicated method of closure that is simple to put-on and take-off of an animal; and
(c) to provide an animal restraint that will be easily attached to a leash without the possibility of accidentally failing to connect all of the rings; and
(d) to provide an animal restraint that can be manufactured from a variety of materials; and
(e) to provide a restraint that will not touch the animal""s neck or forechest or result in unanticipated coughing, choking, or neck injuries; and
(f) to provide a restraint that will eliminate the potential medical costs associated with unanticipated harness or neck collar injuries; and
(g) to provide a restraint that involves one piece construction and is easy and economical to manufacture.
Further objects and advantages are to provide an animal restraint that improves upon some of the best features of conventional collars and harnesses. The shoulder collar utilizes a simplistic circular band to encompass the animal""s legs and shoulders. The band also encircles the area behind the animal""s forelegs and incorporates a ring for attachment to a leash. The shoulder collar eliminates the need to encircle the neck or forechest in order to restrain the animal while still providing the necessary restraint. An additional improvement of the collar is the method of attachment that provides a safety release feature and quick and easy removal. Improvements also include a restraint that will be inexpensive to manufacture from a variety of materials in a variety of sizes to fit any four-legged animal. Additional advantages include utilizing a secure hook-and-loop closure that will not separate unintentionally when used for restraint purposes. Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
The present invention comprises a selective quick release animal restraint device that is easily installed around the legs and shoulders and does not put pressure on an animal""s neck, forechest or airway.